


A Matter of Time

by karasunovolleygays



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Epistolary, Gen, Manga Timeskip Spoilers, Prodigy: A Kageyama Zine, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:15:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26259997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunovolleygays/pseuds/karasunovolleygays
Summary: Kageyama Miwa observes from afar as her brother works through his relationships with volleyball and life.
Relationships: Kageyama Miwa & Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 2
Kudos: 60





	A Matter of Time

**Author's Note:**

> This was my contribution for Prodigy: A Kageyama Zine, which you can download for free [here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_LSIL4yHsdjjzJszm6ZdBxBF71dQRUAC/view?usp=sharing).

The sound of a ball hitting a wooden floor stirs Kageyama Miwa out of an almost-slumber. Normally at this time of night, she’s long asleep because of class looming at eight in the morning. However, it’s Saturday and her phone has been unusually silent for one of her brother’s game days. A niggling feeling of worry keeps her awake until the alert sound they have set for each other marks an end of the atypical radio silence.

When she clicks open the email, she swallows hard.

* * *

> hey 🠶   
> **Sender Name** <ball4life1996@jmail.com>
> 
> ⎙ 🗗  
> June 5, 2011, 1:03 AM **☆ ⮪ ⋮**
> 
> To scissorwitch ▼
> 
> I got benched. I’ve been pushing hard to win and everyone seems mad at me for it, but when I made my toss, every one of them just let it drop. They’re done with me. Nobody would sit next to me on the bench or the bus home. They just kept looking at me like I’m the worst person in the world. Kindaichi won’t look at me at all. I want to make it right again, but I don’t know how.
> 
> Today is the worst day of my life. Everybody hates me and I don’t blame them at all. 
> 
> ⮪ Reply | 🡆 Forward 

* * *

Throughout his entire life, Tobio has been single minded about his goals, much to the detriment of his social skills. Kitagawa Daiichi had seemed like a change in that pattern, with him immediately finding success as a first year on the school’s team. 

That didn’t last long, with mentions of an angry senpai, peers no longer texting him ‘good luck’ and ‘good game’ before and after matches, and his single minded focus on working hard enough for all of them. 

Two names she used to hear about every night after practice, Yuutarou and Akira, slowly disappear from the emails Tobio sends her while she’s away at college. She recalls the other two boys from watching Tobio’s practices and games with their grandfather, as well as a single sleepover one rare weekend their parents were home to supervise.

Akira hadn’t seemed to mind Tobio's blunt behavior, and Yuutarou had always waved off Tobio’s quick apology once he realized what he said. If those two have given up on him, Miwa can only imagine the course of events that could lead to it and the forlorn email dripping with a lack of confidence that isn’t like Tobio at all.

Miwa’s chest aches as she keys a response.

* * *

> Re: hey 🠶   
> **Sender Name** <scissorwitch@jmail.com>
> 
> ⎙ 🗗  
> June 5, 2011, 1:17 AM **☆ ⮪ ⋮**
> 
> To ball4life1996 ▼
> 
> I’m so sorry, baby brother. That had to hurt a lot, but don’t give up. Remember that you have something special. It’s worth working hard to develop, and it can take you as far as you want to go, but sometimes you have to slow down for the rest of us.
> 
> I’m sure Yuu-kun and Akira-kun don’t hate you. They’re hurt and upset, and it had to be hard to make the decision to do what they did. It’ll take time, but give them their space. You three are friends for a reason. 
> 
> I wish I could be there with you right now. It’s hard, with Mom and Dad away from home so much and Grandpa not being around anymore to help out, but hang in there. High school is a chance to start over. Remember what Grandpa always said. Find someone strong and they’ll make you stronger.
> 
> Get some sleep, and be a little kinder to yourself. That’s my little brother you’re talking about!
> 
> ⮪ Reply | 🡆 Forward 

* * *

It’s a while before Miwa settles into an uneasy sleep, and all the way up in Miyagi, she wonders if Tobio has even found that much. No matter how far apart they are or how old they get or how much taller he ends up being than she is, Tobio will always be her little brother. If she could give him the world, she would. 

But this is a hurdle he will have to clear on his own. It will be a long, difficult journey, but if anyone can come out on top, it’s Tobio.  
  
  


**_Seven Years Later_ **

The last customer in the salon leaves, and Miwa heaves a sigh of relief. Off and on, she’s been trying to keep up with Tobio’s game, his first match against his former teammate and friend. She assumes they were friends, even if they did fight like cats and dogs over the stupidest stuff.

But one thing she will always know about Hinata Shouyou when it comes to her brother, it’s that they’re certainly each other’s inspiration. Years after going their separate ways, they finally face off against each other the right way. When Shouyou had gone to Brazil, she had wondered if this showdown would ever happen the way Tobio has always hoped it would, but here they stand on either side of the net on the highest stage in the country.

After the Adlers drop the third set, though, it takes everything she has to focus on some stranger’s highlights when Tobio is battling to make his dream come true.

Once the door is locked behind the final client of the night, Miwa sits in the recently vacated chair and glues her eyes to her phone, holding her breath more and more as the fourth set crawls on. 

The set is neck and neck until it pushes into a deuce, and everything else but the match falls away. Their movements are so quick and sharp, they’re almost extra-human. She can feel Tobio’s concentration radiating from even this tiny screen. When the final spike of the set hits the floor, something twists in Miwa’s gut. 

She sighs and slouches back into the chair. Tobio lost. He has yearned for a fair and square rematch against Shouyou for years. He gets his wish, but not the way he wanted it at all. “Crap,” Miwa mutters under her breath. 

Her mind can barely focus on her cleanup tasks, but she speeds through it and scurries out into the crisp autumn evening. Twenty minutes later and bundled in pajamas, Miwa sits at the kotatsu and watches her phone for the inevitable email from Tobio.

She doesn’t have to wait long for it to come.

* * *

> (no subject) 🠶  
>  **Sender Name** <ball4life1996@jmail.com>
> 
> ⎙ 🗗  
> Oct 13, 2018, 8:39 PM **☆ ⮪ ⋮**
> 
> To scissorwitch ▼
> 
> I don’t know if you watched the match or not, but we lost against Hinata’s team. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s my favorite match ever and we didn’t even win. Hinata was amazing! I can’t wait to play against him again.
> 
> I finally got a chance to talk to Kindaichi and Kunimi. One of these days when we’re old geezers, we’ll play together again. On the bus back, I thought about what you said after the thing happened. Maybe a fresh start and some time is what we all needed. I think I’m going to skip weight training tomorrow afternoon and go check out Kindaichi’s game tomorrow night. 
> 
> I miss you, but we should be hitting Tokyo soon. I hope I’ll see you then. I’ll even let you hug me in front of the guys. 
> 
> ⮪ Reply | 🡆 Forward 

* * *

Miwa’s eyes itch with tears a little bit more every time she rereads the message. With their lives going in completely different directions and living in different cities, she doesn’t see Tobio nearly as often as she would like. Despite that, she isn’t surprised at all about this brave new aspect of Tobio’s soul.

Her reply isn’t gushing praise or a bland acknowledgement. It’s two Kageyama siblings splitting an order of takeout at the Kotatsu on a weeknight because their parents aren’t home yet. It’s Miwa teaching a five year old Tobio how to use a ball pump. It’s Tobio going to watch a chick flick in the movie theater with her after the friends she had plans with backed out at the last minute.

It’s just _them._

* * *

> (/◕ヮ◕)/ 🠶  
>  **Sender Name** <scissorwitch@jmail.com>
> 
> ⎙ 🗗  
> Oct 13, 2018, 8:56 PM **☆ ⮪ ⋮**
> 
> To ball4life1996 ▼
> 
> Damn right I’ll hug you in front of your friends. I’m proud of you, baby brother, and Grandpa would be, too. See you soon!
> 
> ⮪ Reply | 🡆 Forward 

* * *

As their grandfather had said to her just a few days before he passed away: Losing isn’t the end of the road for him; it’s the beginning of the next one. He just needed some help staying on the path.


End file.
